Russell Crowe has questioned why Dakota Johnson thought she’d discover ‘pathos’ while working on a superhero movie.
Earlier this year, Johnson, 34, starred alongside Sydney Sweeney in Sony’s latest instalment to the Spider-Man Universe, Madame Web.
The film saw the actress portray Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Webb – a paramedic who becomes attuned with psychic abilities and attempts to save three young girls from the wrath of explorer Ezekiel Sims (played by Tahar Rahim).
Unfortunately, Madame Web didn’t hit home as it underperformed at the box office and was panned by critics.
Johnson’s various press tour complaints and blunders also overshadowed the entertainment offering, like her inability to name Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies.
Now, in a new interview, Russel Crowe was asked whether his experience working on blockbuster comic book movies mirrored Johnson’s, and whether he agreed with her previous comments.
Speaking to GQ, the Gladiator actor, 60, prefaced his speech by saying he didn’t want to make claims about ‘what anybody else might have said or what their experience is’.
However, he began by saying: “You’re telling me you signed up for a Marvel movie, and some f**king universe for cartoon characters… and you didn’t get enough pathos?”
Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web has a 11 percent Tomatometer rating. (Sony Pictures Entertainment)
“Not quite sure how I can make this better for you. It’s a gigantic machine, and they make movies at a certain size. And you know, I’ve experienced that on the DC side with Man of Steel, Zack Snyder, and I’ve experienced it on the Marvel side via Disney with Thor: Love and Thunder.
“And I’ve also experienced the [Sony-produced] Marvel dark universe with Kraven the Hunter.”
Crowe claimed he sees working on superhero movies or comic-book adaptations as ‘jobs’.
He added that if actors believe those types of movies are going to be ‘life-changing events’, then they’re getting involved for the wrong reasons.
“It can be challenging, working in a blue-screen world, when you have to convince yourself of a lot more than just the internal machinations of your character,” he continued.
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Russell Crowe portrays Zeus in Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder. (Disney/Marvel)
Returning to Johnson, Crowe doubled down and said he didn’t know her and wasn’t sure what she went through while working on the Sony movie.
“Is that the Marvel process? I’m not sure you can say that. I haven’t had a bad experience.”
He added that portraying Zeus on the fourth instalment of the Thor franchise was a ‘gas’ every day, and that he was allowed to be ‘silly’.